Hooked on the beach

My dog, Rolf, loves to help me collect rubbish on the beach. But today nearly ended in disaster as we found he had a fishing hook embedded in his fur as he emerged from the sea after his usual dip. Moreover, as I tried to remove it, I realised there was a second hook concealed inside the seaweed which nearly embedded itself in my finger. Luckily he escaped unscathed despite trying to pull the hook free with his mouth and was soon back on top form collecting bollards.
But fishing debris on the beach is a huge hazard to wildlife and us... Anglers: more care please!

'All Summer Long'

You can capture that 'all summer long' feeling of Coca-Cola 35 years after the event, as I did walking along the beach today when this coke can washed up at my feet. I can think of a few choice words I could invent to send to Coca-Cola that would capture my feelings about their ancient debris washing in on the tide...
Send your suggestions to "All summer long", The Coca-Cola Company, Slough, Berks SL1 2NW.

[click on images for close-up]

A new helper

 I have a new helper when collecting on the beach... well, he's not exactly helping but he is in training.... (believe me, he needs it!)

Our mad pup (who is nearly old enough to know better) now likes to collect plastics on the beach too. Here you can see him with a dustpan he found... but then lost. With helpers like this, I am finding it hard to have enough hands to collect and carry rubbish, take photos and prevent strangers from being 'bounced'!

Life can be tough on the beach.

Sand play

I had a brilliant time the other day playing on the beach at Winterton in Norfolk with teacher and animator, Becca, who was gamely showing me how to animate plastic! After weeks of drought and sunshine, the weather was VERY testing with huge downpours at regular intervals (though sadly not a drop at home in Suffolk in my drought-ridden garden).
But we managed to test a couple of ideas between storms - you can see what Becca did here....

Can't wait to put what I learnt into practice soon!

Talking Walking...

Last summer on a very wet, cold and windy day, I was interviewed by Andrew Stuck (producer of Talking Walking) whilst walking on the beach between Thorpeness and Sizewell. You can now hear the interview here...

Defending the galaxy...

Someone's been partying out at sea... I recently walked along the beach at Covehythe and found 72 balloons washed up on the shoreline. Balloons released in the south-east nearly always end up out at sea because of the prevailing southwesterlies. Wherever they land they cause a major hazard to wildlife, but particularly at sea where they can either entangle sea creatures or can be swallowed having been mistaken for jellyfish (turtles' main food source).


Here's what I found:

Balloons don't just injure wildlife out at sea - a swift fell from the sky into my garden last summer, having flown into a latex balloon from a charity balloon release, which burst around its neck and wings... (this bird was lucky - we were on hand and able to release it...)

For more information see the Marine Conservation Society's  Don't let go campaign.

the oldest yet...

Found whilst walking on the beach the other day: a pre-decimal packet of Quavers... If a crisp packet can last over 40 years in the ocean, how long will the rest of our rubbish last???*

*For answer see http://www.flyintheface.com/plastic%20is%20forever.html